Amendments to S 2012 – 01-27-16

Yesterday there were 84 amendments submitted to S 2012 that is currently being considered in the Senate. Of those only one may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

SA 2997 – Sen. Wyden (D,OR) – pg S 272

Internet of Things

Wyden’s amendment would add paragraph (d), Internet of Things (IOT), to §1021, Study and report on energy savings benefits of operational efficiency programs and services. It would require that the report required under §1021 would include an analysis of the impact of IOT technology on energy and water systems. It would be required to identify IOT technology solutions that {new §1021(d)(B)(ii)}, “through features embedded in hardware and software from the outset” … “promote security, privacy, interoperability, and open standards”.

Moving Forward

Yesterday was only the first day of consideration of this complex bill. At this point in their deliberations there is no clear indication of how many or which amendments will ultimately be considered on the floor of the Senate. If this amendment does make it to the floor it will likely be approved since it only requires a modification to an existing report.

Commentary

This amendment contains an interesting definition of IOT. Paragraph (d)(1) defines IOT as a set of technologies that:

• Connect to the Internet; and

• Provide real-time and actionable analytics and predictive maintenance

The inclusion of a requirement for ‘actionable analytics and predictive maintenance’ a number of devices that most people would lump together under the IOT rubric. Even in the industrial IOT realm operational devices connected to control systems in electric utility or water utility facilities would not fall under this relatively limited definition.